Pedestrian hit in crosswalk while walking dog

Police said a woman sustained life-threatening injuries July 25 after a car hit her as she walked her dog in the Issaquah Highlands.

Police said a car struck the woman, a 59-year-old highlands resident, at about 7 p.m.

The accident occurred as she turned to cross busy Northeast Park Drive near a condominium complex. But the crosswalk at 15th Avenue Northeast could not shield a woman and her dog from the oncoming Mazda.

The collision killed the dog. Rescuers used a cloth to cover the animal.

Issaquah Patrol Cmdr. Scott Behrbaum said the Mazda turned left out of a residential area, The Highlands at Wynhaven, and headed downhill before striking the woman in the crosswalk.

Eastside Fire & Rescue medics transported the woman to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with multiple life-threatening injuries. Behrbaum said her condition had been upgraded from critical to serious by the next morning.

The driver, a 29-year-old Seattle man, rendered initial aid to the pedestrian. Behrbaum said the driver stopped the vehicle and performed CPR in the moments after the collision.

Issaquah police said the man has cooperated with police during the investigation. Behrbaum said the investigators needed to determine the facts in the case before determining whether charges should be filed against the driver. Police could not yet determine if the driver had been speeding before the collision.

Police also planned to re-interview other drivers who witnessed the incident, Behrbaum said.

“The investigation is still ongoing,” he said the day after the accident.

The incident echoed a 2005 hit-and-run accident in the highlands. Uta Michl, a 55-year-old Austrian tourist, died several days after a flatbed truck hit her as she walked along Highlands Drive Northeast at about 7:45 p.m. Oct. 7.

Passers-by discovered Michl beside the roadway in the moments after the accident. Police were unable to locate the driver responsible for the accident.